El Yunque half day on cruise day

[baylorgirl80]

We are sailing Jewel on March 15 and our sailing time is 800 pm. Would we have time for a half day tour to El Yunque before checking in/boarding the ship? Also, do you have suggestions for a tour operator that would accomodate us? I have send an email to Castillo; considering Charlies but would really want to share the cost with another couple if I used them. Any ideas?

[ghezzy]

It all depends on traffic, but I think it might be doable it's like 1.5 hours each way so keep that in mind. You would need to do it early

 

 

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[dcikon2]

You should be able to visit El Yunque if you get there early (by 9:00 am). You could spend around 3 hours in the park and then head to Luquillo Beach and eat lunch at one of the stands. Make sure to get back into OSJ fairly early as traffic is a NIGHTMARE at night when ships are in port.

[Lard Greystoke]

We are sailing Jewel on March 15 and our sailing time is 800 pm. Would we have time for a half day tour to El Yunque before checking in/boarding the ship? Also, do you have suggestions for a tour operator that would accomodate us? I have send an email to Castillo; considering Charlies but would really want to share the cost with another couple if I used them. Any ideas?

 

You should be able to get from San Juan to Yunque in less than an hour. Depending on how early you start you could spend a decent amount of time there.

 

A guide is not really necessary. With a rental car and minimal map-reading skills you can get there on your own. There is plenty of parking and the trails are well laid out. It's a unique place well worth visiting. Take a poncho or umbrella.

[frenchcanrican]

I am a local.

 

Rent a car, use google maps or your navigational system. Jump on RT 66 (toll highway brand new and easy to drive) drive to the top of El Yunque (the rain forest) and hike down to the cascade 1.5 miles R/T.

Visit the Luquillo Kiosks and go to the beach behind the Kiosks. It's free.

 

 

"The other half of a DINK and proud of it!."

[patroet]

I have read many post that suggest renting a car and do it yourself tour but my husband does not want to drive or he will not let me drive. lol

I did find online Viator San Juan but they will not pick us up at Sheraton in Old San Juan.

I have tried email them twice to find out where we would have to meet them to join their tour group but no reply.

Do you have a recommendation for another tour company?

Thanks for your help

[jmrb]

I am a local.

 

Rent a car, use google maps or your navigational system. Jump on RT 66 (toll highway brand new and easy to drive) drive to the top of El Yunque (the rain forest) and hike down to the cascade 1.5 miles R/T.

Visit the Luquillo Kiosks and go to the beach behind the Kiosks. It's free.

 

That's exactly what we did last week. We were off the pier #4 at 8 am, called the Condado branch of Charlie and they came to pick us up about 15 min later. Rental was fine and cheaper than most. It took us about 50 min to get to El Yunque Visitor Center in moderate traffic. Maybe it would have been faster staying on I66 but we wanted to avoid the toll road ($10+) so used PR-3 all the way.

 

Anyway, after that it takes a while to drive through El Yunque since speed limit is 20 mph and it's pretty long road with many stops. How long it takes depends on which stops you pick but also count at least 2 hours if you want to hit the main points and walk fast.

 

From El Yunque we got back to PR-3 and just a few miles later exited at Kioskos and went to Balneario La Monserrate Beach. Entrance fee was just over $4 for the car. Clean, large beach with all facilities you could ask for and not crowded at all (were there during the week). We spent about 2 hr on the beach.

 

From there it took us about an hour to get back to Condado but you'll definitely need a good GPS. One thing about Charlie was that they didn't mention they changed address so that messed us up for a while. We had to call them to figure out the new address. All their maps, website, etc. says 890 Condado Ave but they're now at 1100 Condado Ave which is a one-way traffic area. Anyway, they took us back to the pier very quickly (about 10 min) and we were back by 3 pm. Good service, good cars, our experience with them was good.

 

Traffic in SJ is a bit hectic but was way more tame than the horror reviews we had read online before. Plenty of cities in the US where it's just as bad as SJ in my opinion. Around El Yunque, Luquillo, and on PR-3, it was actually very easy to navigate.

[robmom59]

how much was the car rental? how did you book the rental car? Contact info for Charlies?